Yosemite free climber: Find your Dawn Wall - CNN.com Yosemite free climber: Getting to the top was 'awesome' 03:32 Story highlights Tommy Caldwell, Kevin Jorgeson became first free climbers to reach top of El Capitan by this route El Capitan is 3,000-foot rock formation in Yosemite National Park Caldwell on CNN: "It feels incredible" (CNN) Nineteen days. Three thousand feet of some of the hardest climbing in the world. And just their bare hands and sticky-soled shoes to get them up the granite-faced monster known as the Dawn Wall. Many other people had climbed El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. None of them ever reached the top after free-climbing the Dawn Wall like Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson did Wednesday. The Dawn Wall is revered in the climbing world as one of the most daunting ascents in the world. "It feels incredible. We've been working on this since 2009.

Tommy first envisioned the line in 2007, so it's been all-consuming in our lives since then and it's pretty surreal to wake up this morning and have the climb complete," the 30-year-old Jorgeson told CNN on Thursday. JUST WATCHED MUST WATCH Climbers summit Yosemite's El Capitan via Dawn Wall 01:23 "It felt like a very spiritual experience the whole time," Caldwell said during a press conference at Yosemite. Read More The journey up the Dawn Wall was documented on Caldwell and Jorgeson's Instagram accounts, Caldwell and Jorgeson's Facebook accounts and YouTube . The two began climbing on December 27 and didn't leave the wall until they finished. They slept in hanging cots. Others sent them food when they needed it. They had safety ropes for the times they lost hold. (Free climbing "absolutely requires a rope," but only to prevent falls, not as a means of climbing, the American Alpine Institute's Jason Martin explains on the organization's website). Caldwell, 36, lost his voice from the shouting that the two did as they communicated which steps to take. The worst injuries were small cuts to their fingers.

Caldwell has climbed El Capitan 60 times and spoke of his intense love of the national park. "I crave time in Yosemite like I crave food and water," he said. He and Jorgeson described climbing as an art and a way to get in touch with nature, and to respect its power. Climbs shouldn't be compared to each other, Caldwell said, just as paintings shouldn't be compared. Jorgeson said he wishes some media stories would stop couching their accomplishment as an ambition to "conquer" nature. "This isn't about us versus it," he said, adding that he hoped that the global attention the climb has received would inspired others to "find their own Dawn Wall." Many people can relate to the importance of teamwork in achieving a dream, he said. On CNN, the two were asked whether they ever thought so much about the climb during the planning stages that they became too intimidated to actually try it. "There were times when I questioned whether I'd be able to do it," but never the idea, Caldwell said.

When he and Jorgeson reached the top they embraced and fist-bumped, Caldwell said, recalling that he said something to his climbing partner like, "This was a rad experience!" Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall – Free climbers Tommy Caldwell, left, and Kevin Jorgeson embrace Wednesday, January 14, after reaching the top of El Capitan, a 3,000-foot rock formation in California's Yosemite National Park. They are the first to successfully climb El Capitan's Dawn Wall using only their hands and feet. Hide Caption Climbers Complete Historic Yosemite Climb Tommy Caldwell enjoys a long-awaited moment of triumph on the pinnacle of El Capitan. Photograph by Bligh Gillies, Big Up Productions/Aurora Photos Nineteen days after they set out to achieve one of climbing's most difficult challenges, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson reached the summit of the 3,000-foot rock known as El Capitan in Yosemite National Park on Wednesday, marking the first free ascent of a notoriously difficult section called the Dawn Wall.

Caldwell and Jorgeson reached the summit just after 6:00 p.m. EST, where a contingent of 40 friends and family members, plus a group of reporters, stood ready to greet them, having arrived via an eight-mile (13-kilometer) hike around the backside of the mountain. The crowd had already begun toasting the duo's accomplishment with champagne. ( See pictures from the photographer who is documenting Caldwell's and Jorgeson's attempt to make history .) The ascent represents the realization of Caldwell's vision to find a way to free climb the Dawn Wall—widely considered too steep and too difficult for free climbing—a dream that began seven years ago, when Caldwell began exploring this historic granite face. "This is not an effort to 'conquer,'" Jorgeson said Tuesday on Twitter, from 2,000 feet (610 meters) up the side of El Capitan. "It's about realizing a dream." ( Read why Caldwell and Jorgeson are sanding and Super Gluing their fingers for the climb .) View Images The red line shows the route followed by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson on the Dawn Wall on Yosemite's El Capitan.

Click to see a history of achievements on El Cap. NG MAPS; CLAY WADMAN; ALDO CHIAPPE From the start, two and a half weeks ago, the climbing world has been charting their progress. But as the pair moved up the wall and first Caldwell and then Jorgeson successfully made it past the most difficult sections, a much broader, global audience became captivated by the imagery of two men clinging to the most improbable-looking surface of rock by the very tips of their fingers, thousands of feet above the ground. You Might Also Like Why Yosemite Climbers Super Glue Their Fingers Free climbing means using one's hands and feet to ascend a rock's natural features, employing ropes and other gear only to stop a fall. At roughly 3,000 feet (915 meters) tall, the Dawn Wall comprises 32 "pitches"—or 32 rope-lengths—of climbing. Caldwell's and Jorgeson's goal was to free climb all 32 pitches—without falling and without returning to the ground in between. If one of them fell while attempting a pitch, he would have to try that individual pitch from its beginning again.

( Read about Jorgeson's attempts to catch up to Caldwell .) They began their ascent on December 27, and committed to living up on the side of El Cap for as long as it took each of them to free climb every pitch in succession. Their base camp consisted of three portaledges—each one a six-foot by four-foot (2-meter by 1-meter) platform with tent fly, suspended by nylon straps and hanging from bolts in the sheer granite wall. For breakfast they ate whole-wheat bagels topped with cream cheese, red bell pepper, cucumber, and salami or salmon. At night, they sipped whiskey. Every few days, one of the friends waiting on the ground ascended 1,200 feet (366 meters) of rope to bring the team a new cache of supplies and water. View Images After their extraordinary effort, Caldwell and Jorgeson show their happiness and relief at completing their trailblazing climb. Photograph by Bligh Gillies, Big Up Productions/Aurora Photos Over the first six days, they made quick work of the initial 14 pitches—some of the hardest pitches of all.

During their five previous attempts at the Dawn Wall, spread out over as many years, they had never even made it past pitch 12. When they both accomplished pitch 14 on January 1, it seemed as though the duo stood a real chance of success. (Read National Geographic's adventure blog, Beyond the Edge. ) Breaking Through After pitch 14, Caldwell, 36, the more experienced climber of the two, kicked into high gear. He continued to complete grueling pitch after grueling pitch over the next seven days. After two weeks on the wall, Caldwell had free climbed the first 20 pitches, beyond which only easier sections remained. Jorgeson, 30, meanwhile, stalled out on pitch 15. For ten days in a row, he continued to fall during each of his attempts. Time was a factor—the longer the climbers were on the wall, the greater chance of a weather front moving through and forcing the climbers to descend. The chance for success was literally slipping through Jorgeson's bandaged and bloody fingertips, and he was painfully aware that he was holding his partner back. If he didn't do pitch 15 soon, Caldwell would have to decide whether to move on alone.

You Might Also Like Dawn Wall's Underdog Climber Recounts His Push to Catch Up "More than anything, I want to top out together," Caldwell said on day 13. "We gotta make that happen. It would be such a bummer to finish this thing without Kevin. I can't imagine anything worse, really." On January 9, Jorgeson finally broke through and completed pitch 15 without falling. The success reenergized the team in a major way, as Jorgeson caught a second wind. He describes experiencing a profound "resolve" to match his partner's high point, at the top of pitch 20. He started to climb as if a fire had been lit within. "After 11 attempts spread across 7 days, my battle with Pitch 15 of the Dawn Wall is complete," Jorgeson wrote on Instagram . "Hard to put the feeling into words. There's a lot of hard climbing above, but I'm more resolved than ever to free the remaining pitches." By Monday, both Caldwell and Jorgeson had reached a ledge dubbed Wino Tower.

Below them was 2,000 feet (610 meters) of the hardest free climbing ever completed on El Capitan. Over the the next two days, the climbers continued the remainder of their ascent—a stroll compared to what they had already been through. View Images Tommy Caldwell uses a network of ropes to move between sections of the Dawn Wall, a granite expanse of Yosemite National Park's El Capitan. After living on the wall for 19 days, Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson reached the summit today, becoming the first to ever free climb the entire Dawn Wall. Photograph by Corey Rich, Big Up Productions/Aurora Photos El Cap: America's Biggest Rock The Dawn Wall is the steepest, tallest, blankest section of El Cap—and one of the monolith's most storied sectors. Warren Harding and Dean Caldwell (no relation to Tommy) aid climbed the "Wall of the Early Morning Light," aka the Dawn Wall, for the first time in 1970 . Aid climbing involves standing on nylon ladders that are clipped to pieces of gear attached to the wall.

Harding's and Caldwell's ascent became the subject of national news when, after 22 days of living on the wall—sleeping in hammocks and drinking numerous bottles of wine—a four-day storm blew in, and the two climbers famously turned down the National Park Service's attempt to rescue them. In 1970, simply trying to reach the summit of El Capitan, by any means, was considered a worthy goal. Climbing techniques, equipment, and levels of skill were still quite rudimentary compared to today. In 1970, for example, no one would've ever believed that El Capitan could be free climbed. Now, in a strange twist, the Dawn Wall has returned to the spotlight under very different circumstances. For Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson, the adventure lies not in just getting to the top of the great granite monolith. The challenge is seeing if they can do it all free. View Images Caldwell climbs pitch 16, one of the most difficult sections of the Dawn Wall. Even in January, it was still too hot for free climbing in the direct California sun, forcing Caldwell and Jorgeson to do most of their climbing at night.

Photograph by Corey Rich, Big Up Productions/Aurora Photos Logistics of Going Free In every way the performance of these two climbers has been a giant production. An intricate web of rigged ropes allowed the climbers to move from pitch to pitch, as they worked on free climbing each one in succession. The ropes also provided a way for a small camera crew to document their efforts. A line to the ground allowed friends to provide the climbers with supplies, water, and food. Free climbing is much more athletic than aid climbing. Free climbing does not mean climbing with no ropes—that's free soloing, a highly risky style of climbing practiced only on occasion by relatively few in the climbing world. Still, it's an arduous process, requiring a climber to use only the natural features of the rock to advance—cracks in which to wedge one's hands and edges to curl one's fingertips over. The climbers wear harnesses and are each tied to one end of a 200-foot-long rope (61 meters), which is clipped, via carabiners, to various types of climbing gear, from camming units that fit in cracks to expansion bolts that have been pre-drilled into the rock.

They only rely on this equipment to catch them if they fall. Free climbs are puzzles. On any given pitch, a climber faces a series of holds that vary in size, shape, and distance from each other. The goal is figuring out how to move between this unique combination of holds. The harder the movements get—twisting, stretching, lunging, swinging, dangling—the more painstaking the process of solving the puzzle becomes. View Images Jorgeson (at left) and Caldwell have been living in a "portaledge" 1,500 feet (457 meters) above the valley while working on the Dawn Wall route. The best amenities in their studio in the sky? A French press for coffee and their iPhones (charged with a solar panel). Photograph by Jimmy Chin, National Geographic Creative Ballet on the Rock Climbers fall, hang, and rehearse each and every move, over and over. They memorize sequences. They scrub the rock with toothbrushes to remove any dust or dirt and improve the texture and friction on the hold. They place "tick marks," white chalk marks, to indicate the location of hard-to-see hand- and footholds.

Another important aspect of free climbing is for climbers to manage the lactic acid building up in their forearms—by holding on with no more than the precise minimum amount of energy needed to keep attached to the wall. Distributing body weight among hands and feet, and maintaining a perfect balance among these constantly moving appendages, is yet another crucial element. You Might Also Like Photographer Captures Attempt at History-Making Climb Of course, it helps to have fingers as strong as vice grips, iron core muscles, the flexibility of a yoga master, and virtually no body fat. When a climber falls, his partner catches the fall using a belay device, which acts like a brake and stops the rope. As long as no one is injured, it's no big deal. The climber simply tries again until successful. With the hardest routes in the world, however, that success sometimes takes weeks, months, or even years of practice and training. Even with all that work, skin conditions , humidity, air temperature, a calm and unattached state of mind, and a well-rested body also all need to align. About the troublesome pitch 15, for example, Jorgeson said, "The conditions were just magic.

It was the one moment over the last ten days when it was actually cloudy and cold enough to climb during daylight. It all lined up to create this one moment in which my skin was good enough and the conditions were perfect." What makes the Dawn Wall so significant is that it contains so many hard free-climbing pitches in a row. There are about 13 other free climbs on El Cap, and none of them are even close to being as challenging. Those other routes might have one or two extremely difficult pitches total. The Dawn Wall has about 17. Two of them, pitches 14 and 15, are the most difficult in Yosemite and at the upper limit of what has been achieved in rock climbing anywhere. The idea that anyone would be able to free climb at such a high level, day after day, while living out of a tiny portaledge the size of a twin mattress, seemed far-fetched if not downright impossible. Even for Tommy Caldwell. View Images To document the epic climb, a team of filmmakers and photographers relied on a complex network of ropes to ascend and descend around the climbers.

To get this shot of Caldwell on pitch 15, photographer Brett Lowell had to dangle from a 2,700-foot-long (823 meters) rope held by a crew on the ground. Photograph by Brett Lowell, Big Up Productions/Aurora Photos "Clumsy Kid With Bad Hand-Eye Coordination" If anyone was to pull off this unlikely challenge, Tommy Caldwell , of Estes Park, Colorado, was a good bet. He started climbing at just three years old and became a national climbing champion at 16 when, on a whim, he entered a sport climbing competition and won, beating some of the nation's top pro climbers. Since then, he has dedicated most of his professional climbing career to exploring the nuances of the many climbing routes crisscrossing El Capitan's towering granite flanks. "I grew up a clumsy kid with bad hand-eye coordination," wrote Caldwell in Ascent magazine. "Yet here on El Cap I felt as though I had stumbled into a world where I thrived.

Being up on those steep walls demanded the right amount of climbing skill, pain tolerance, and sheer bull-headedness that came naturally to me." Here on El Cap I felt as though I had stumbled into a world where I thrived. Tommy Caldwell Caldwell free climbed his first El Cap route in 1999, and he has returned to the monolith every year since to find new challenges. He is routinely described as an "all-around" climber due to the fact that he consistently performs at world-class levels in each of climbing's various genres, from bouldering to sport climbing to mountaineering—distinct disciplines that demand very specialized skill sets. To understand the breadth of Caldwell's athleticism, picture an Olympic runner who is as talented in the marathon as he is in the hundred-meter dash. You Might Also Like World's Hardest Climb Goal of Yosemite Wall Climber It's worth noting that Caldwell has managed to achieve all this success despite missing a finger. In 2001 while working with a table saw, he accidentally cut off his left index finger—a debilitating loss when your life's passion involves hanging by your fingertips. Doctors were able to reattach the finger, but told Caldwell that with its diminished mobility he'd never climb again.

At first he was devastated, but then his determination kicked in, and he had the finger removed so as not to hinder him. Five months later, he free climbed the 3,000-foot (914-meter) Salathé Wall , another route on El Capitan, in less than 24 hours. He faced another grave moment the following year during an expedition to Kyrgyzstan with fellow climbers John Dickey, Jason Smith, and Beth Rodden, who was then Caldwell's girlfriend and later became his wife. In the Aksu Valley, the four climbers were taken captive by militant rebels of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Over the next six days, they were held at gunpoint and marched at night through the mountains while their captors traded fire with the Kyrgyz army. The defining moment of their kidnapping came when the four climbers found themselves alone with just one rebel fighter, and Caldwell shoved the gunman off a cliff. They escaped, hiking 18 miles (29 kilometers) to freedom. Caldwell was distraught over what he thought he'd done.

Yet in a bizarre twist, a week later word emerged from Kyrgyzstan that the rebel Caldwell had shoved had actually survived, having only tumbled down a steep hill. Beginning the Dawn Wall About 100 climbs zig-zag up the face of El Capitan, but only 13 of those routes have been free climbed. In 1988, Todd Skinner and Paul Piana became the first to free climb El Cap via one of its major routes: the Salathé Wall. Over the years, it has always taken a significant effort from a world-class climber or pair of climbers to establish a new free climb. View Images Caldwell (left) and Jorgeson take a break at their hanging camp while practicing to free climb the sheer expanse of El Capitan known as the Dawn Wall in 2010. Photograph by Jimmy Chin, National Geographic Creative Few have ever made free climbing El Capitan look easy. Tommy Caldwell, however, might be the one exception. He has free climbed 11 of those 13 routes—an unmatched record. For training purposes, Caldwell once free climbed two routes on El Capitan in a 24-hour period.

In other words, he free climbed 3,000 feet of difficult rock, hiked five miles (eight kilometers) back down to the base of the wall, and then climbed a different route, all within a single day, and all in the name of training for the Dawn Wall. In 2007 Caldwell underwent a painful divorce from Beth Rodden , another well-known professional climber. "I was amid the darkest period of my life," Caldwell wrote in Ascent. "The Dawn Wall became an excellent distraction." Despite the fact that free climbing the Dawn Wall appeared to be impossible, Caldwell threw himself into the project. Simply finding the route took him a full year of exploration. This process involved rappelling down the face and swinging around to identify enough consecutive hand- and footholds to allow for continuous upward passage. Also time-consuming was installing the dozens of protection bolts needed to climb these crackless sections of rock. To hand drill a single hole three inches deep—the size needed for a standard expansion bolt—takes about 45 minutes. Adhering to the code of free climbing, Caldwell placed the minimum needed to avoid a fatal fall.

In the spring of 2008, he was joined on the wall by a documentary film crew, all friends who provided some much-needed company and support. The resulting cult classic climbing film, Progression, showed Caldwell working out the movements and wondering if the route would ever be done by him—or anyone. "I thought that the film would at least show the climbing world what this line was all about," said Caldwell. "If I couldn't do it, then maybe someone else could." Caldwell says he received an e-mail from Jorgeson "almost immediately" after Progression was released. Jorgeson said he was inspired by the film and wanted to join Caldwell for the adventure, "even if it's just a way to learn the ways of big-wall free climbing," he wrote. In the fall of 2009, Jorgeson, having never climbed El Cap before, joined forces with Caldwell. By all accounts, they made an unlikely team. View Images Jorgeson brushes Super Glue onto one of his taped fingers. The glue helps keep the tape from separating at the overlaps while he climbs.

Photograph by Bligh Gillies, Big Up Productions/Aurora Photos Style Defined by Granite Jorgeson grew up in Santa Rosa, California, a few hours west of Yosemite and an hour north of San Francisco. He started climbing in a gym at age 11 and by 16 was competing in indoor climbing competitions. He garnered a reputation for being a powerful climber. He specialized in bouldering, which is climbing boulders up to about 20 feet (six meters) tall via the most difficult sequence of moves known. His expertise expanded to include the much riskier "highball bouldering," which means climbing really tall boulders up to 60 feet (18 meters). In the Buttermilks, a bouldering area outside of Bishop, California, Jorgeson established the first ascent of a boulder called Ambrosia , which features intricately difficult moves along its entire length. His climb of the 60-foot-tall boulder in 2009 was considered one of the boldest climbing achievements of the year. Jorgeson first visited Yosemite for bouldering on his 16th birthday.

He's made a tradition of returning to the valley for his birthday every year since. "The granite here has defined my style and what I like to seek out," Jorgeson said. "It's been hugely influential in leading up to what I'm doing right now on the Dawn Wall." View Images Caldwell climbs the Loop Pitch—his variation of pitch 16—which ranks among the most challenging sections of the Dawn Wall route. Photograph by Corey Rich, Big Up Productions/Aurora Photos Highs and Lows In the spring of 2008, six months after starting the Dawn Wall project partly to take his mind off his recent divorce, Caldwell met Rebecca Pietsch, a woman who seemed "way out of my league," says Caldwell. Pietsch had just started climbing and approached Caldwell, asking if he knew anything about the sport. Within a year after they met, the two were married. Their son, Fitz, is now nearly 21 months old—about a year younger than when Tommy first started climbing. "The Dawn Wall has been the only constant in my life for the past seven years,” he said last week by phone from his portaledge.

“Everything else changed, but the Dawn Wall has still been there." He added jokingly, "I'm not going to know how to live if we send this thing. I'm totally going to go through a midlife crisis for sure." Posting on her blog, Rebecca wrote , "The Dawn Wall started out as a little bit of an escape from a deep pain Tommy felt from the sadness of splitting up with his former wife. He deemed the wall impossible to free climb. He came back to it a year later, and with the excitement of a budding relationship between us decided that the Dawn Wall just might be possible. Our relationship began with this route, and the Dawn Wall has weaved its way through our lives together over the past six years." The Dawn Wall has also been an opportunity for Caldwell to be a mentor to Jorgeson. "For so many years, I could never do the moves on pitch 16," said Jorgeson. "Then, this week, I never fell on that section. A lot of that comes from spending so much time with Tommy over the last five years. Through him, I've learned how to approach this type of climbing." The Dawn Wall has been the only constant in my life for the past seven years.

Everything else changed, but the Dawn Wall has still been there. Tommy Caldwell Caldwell and Jorgeson have made five attempts over the past half decade to free climb the Dawn Wall from bottom to top. Over the years, highs and lows have abounded. In 2011, Jorgeson took a fall on pitch 16 and pulled ligaments in his ankle, sidelining him for the rest of the year. In 2013, Caldwell fractured a rib when he dropped a hundred-pound haul bag that was attached to his harness via a hundred-foot rope; the force of the bag hitting the end of the line pulled the rib out of place. Also that year, the government shutdown closed all national parks , including Yosemite, stealing away valuable time for the climbers to spend on the route. You Might Also Like 2 Americans reach top of Yosemite's El Capitan in historic climb | Fox News 2 Americans reach top of Yosemite's El Capitan in historic climb Published January 14, 2015 Facebook 0 Twitter 0 Email Print Jan.

14, 2014: Shown is El Capitan where two climbers vying to become the first in the world to use only their hands and feet to scale a sheer slab of granite make their way to the summit Wednesday in Yosemite National Park, Calif. (AP) YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. – A pair of Americans on Wednesday completed what had long been considered the world's most difficult rock climb, using only their hands and feet to conquer a 3,000-foot vertical wall on El Capitan, the forbidding granite pedestal in Yosemite National Park that has beckoned adventurers for more than half a century. Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson became the first to "free-climb" the rock formation's Dawn Wall, a feat that many had considered impossible. They used ropes and safety harnesses to catch them in case of a fall, but relied entirely on their own strength and dexterity to ascend by grasping cracks as thin as razor blades and as small as dimes. The effort took weeks, as the two dealt with constant falls and injuries. But their success completes a years-long dream that bordered on obsession for the men. The trek up the world's largest granite monolith began Dec. 27.

Caldwell and Jorgeson lived on the wall itself. They ate and slept in tents fastened to the rock thousands of feet above the ground and battled painful cuts to their fingertips much of the way. Free-climbers do not pull themselves up with cables or use chisels to carve out handholds. Instead, they climb inch by inch, wedging their fingertips and feet into tiny crevices or gripping sharp, thin projections of rock. In photographs, the two appeared at times like Spider-Man, with arms and legs splayed across the pale rock that has been described as smooth as a bedroom wall. Both men needed to take rest days to wait for their skin to heal. They used tape and even superglue to help with the process. At one point, Caldwell set an alarm to wake him every few hours to apply a special lotion to his throbbing hands. They also took physical punishment when their grip would slip, pitching them into long, swinging falls that left them bouncing off the rock face. The tumbles, which they called "taking a whipper," ended in startling jolts from their safety ropes. Caldwell and Jorgeson had help from a team of supporters who brought food and supplies and shot video of the adventure.

The 36-year-old Caldwell and 30-year-old Jorgeson ate canned peaches and occasionally sipped whiskey. They watched their urine evaporate into thin, dry air and handed toilet sacks, called "wag bags," to helpers who disposed of them. There are about 100 routes up the rock known among climbers as "El Cap," and many have made it to the top, the first in 1958. Even the Dawn Wall had been scaled. Warren Harding and Dean Caldwell (no relation to Tommy) made it up in 1970, using climbing ropes and countless rivets over 27 days. No one, however, had ever made it to the 3,000-foot summit in one continuous free-climb -- until now. The pioneering ascent comes as a result of five years of training and failed attempts for both Caldwell and Jorgeson. They only got about a third of the way up in 2010 when they were turned back by storms. A year later, Jorgeson fell and broke an ankle in another attempt. Since then, each has spent time on the big, blank rock practicing and mapping out strategy.

On this try, as the world watched and followed on Facebook and Twitter, Jorgeson was stalled by a lower section that took 11 attempts over the course of seven days. "As disappointing as this is, I'm learning new levels of patience, perseverance and desire," Jorgeson posted online. "I'm not giving up. I will rest. I will try again. I will succeed." Caldwell, of Estes Park, Colorado, is no stranger to El Cap. He has free-climbed 11 different routes and was the first to make such ascents of the Dihedral Wall and West Buttress. He was the third to free-climb the Nose on El Cap. He also made his way up a challenging El Capitan route in fewer than 24 hours -- becoming only the second person to do so -- only months after accidentally severing his left index finger with a table saw in 2001. In 2000, Caldwell and three other climbers went to the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan to scale the towering rock walls of its southern mountains. Seventeen days in, they were captured by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

Caldwell shoved a guard over a cliff, and the climbers fled, eventually reaching a Kyrgyz army outpost. The guard survived the fall. Jorgeson, of Santa Rosa, California, has an impressive list of climbs in the U.S., Europe and South Africa. He works as a climbing instructor and co-founded an advocacy group for the climbers. Still, the difficulty of the climb wasn't a surprise.

John Long, the first person to climb up El Capitan in one day in 1975, said recently of Caldwell and Jorgeson's free-climb that it was almost "inconceivable that anyone could do something that continuously difficult." Advertisement Yosemite Free-Climb Duo Reach El Capitan Summit - ABC News Yosemite Free-Climb Duo Reach El Capitan Summit By ABC NEWS Jan 14, 2015, 6:33 PM ET 0 Shares WATCH Climbers Celebrate El Capitan Climb With Hugs, Champagne 0 Shares Email An impossible dream was realized today for Yosemite climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson, as they became the first to free-climb to the top of the nearly vertical El Capitan's "Dawn Wall." Caldwell and Jorgeson used only their hands and feet to inch up the 3,000-foot rock. The Dawn Wall is the steepest half-mile stretch of granite that faces east toward the sun. Caldwell and Jorgeson used no climbing equipment, just ropes and harnesses to prevent deadly falls. Big Up Productions filmmaker Brett Lowell filmed the pair's climb.

"If you look at that wall, it looks like glass," Lowell said previously. "It's really difficult to imagine how anyone could free-climb it." So proud of @TommyCaldwell1 and @KJorgeson for conquering El Capitan. You remind us that anything is possible. -bo pic.twitter.com/XcDwHqv2ry — The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 15, 2015 During Caldwell and Jorgeson's 19-day journey -- a dream seven years in the making -- the climbers slept in hanging tents attached to the wall, even braving a windstorm and clinging to razor-sharp edges with bloodied fingers. "What makes it hard is the holds are very small. They are far apart. ... Basically just hard to climb," friend and professional climber Alex Honnold said recently. ABC News Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson became the first to free-climb up the nearly vertical El Capitan's Dawn Wall, Jan. 14, 2015. On Day 8, Jorgeson struggled at one of the toughest points. "It was a true cliffhanger," he said in a video blog from the Dawn Wall.

"Thoughts crossed my mind that I should just throw in the towel." It was game on from there though. Courtesy Brett Lowell Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell are seen in this undated photo climbing the face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, California. Over the course of the climb, which began Dec. 27, they ate packed hard-boiled eggs, breakfast sandwiches with salmon and got caffeine boosts from their flasks of coffee. The men were met by an entourage up at the top -- from climbing buddies to family members. It will take them a few hours to come back down through a combination of hiking and rappelling. "I feel like the most proud person in the world right now," Caldwell's sister Sandy Van Nieuwenhuyzen told The Associated Press. "I'm just going to hug. Just hug. No words necessary." Tom Evans/ElCap Report Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell are seen in this undated photo in their camp on the face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, California.

0 Shares Free climbers near summit of El Capitan - CNN.com Free climbers near summit of El Capitan By Janet DiGiacomo and Teri Genova, CNN Updated 4:57 PM ET, Wed January 14, 2015 Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds. JUST WATCHED Father of Yosemite climber speaks out on historic feat 02:39 Story highlights Tommy Caldwell, Kevin Jorgeson trying to become first free climbers to reach top of El Capitan El Capitan is 3,000-foot rock formation in Yosemite National Park They are expected to reach the summit soon (CNN) Professional climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson may be hours away from reaching a new height: the top of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Since December 27, Caldwell and Jorgeson have been scaling the 3,000-foot rock formation. Now, it appears the duo will reach the summit on Wednesday or Thursday. The route Caldwell and Jorgenson are attempting is the notoriously difficult Dawn Wall, more than a half mile high.

There are many routes up El Capitan, but only a handful have been attempted by climbers trying to free climb -- using only their hands and feet -- with ropes designed only to catch them when they fall. And none have successfully conquered El Capitan's Dawn Wall. Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall – Free climbers Tommy Caldwell, left, and Kevin Jorgeson embrace Wednesday, January 14, after reaching the top of El Capitan, a 3,000-foot rock formation in California's Yosemite National Park. They are the first to successfully climb El Capitan's Dawn Wall using only their hands and feet. Hide Caption 1 of 18 Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Caldwell celebrates after finishing the climb, which took more than two weeks. The Dawn Wall is more than a half-mile high. Hide Caption 2 of 18 Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Caldwell, bottom, watches Jorgeson as they work their way up the Dawn Wall on Monday, January 12.

Hide Caption 3 of 18 Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Caldwell, in yellow, stands with a photographer at a base camp before continuing to climb on January 12. Caldwell and Jorgeson had ropes designed to catch them if they fell. Hide Caption 4 of 18 Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Caldwell climbs on Sunday, January 11. He had already completed five other routes on El Capitan, but family members said the Dawn Wall route consumed him. Hide Caption Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall A close-up of Jorgeson's hands on Saturday, January 10. Hide Caption Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Caldwell, in red, climbs while cameramen record him on Thursday, January 8. Hide Caption 7 of 18 Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall While two people record him from above, Jorgeson celebrates finishing a portion of his climb on January 8. Hide Caption Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall The climbers have expressed the adventure's joys and heartaches through various social media accounts.

Hide Caption Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Jorgeson climbs on Wednesday, January 7. Hide Caption Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Jorgeson looks at his hands during a break in the climb. Hide Caption Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Caldwell looks up the Dawn Wall during a break. Hide Caption Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Caldwell works his way up a portion of the wall on Saturday, January 3. Hide Caption Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Caldwell eats dinner during a break on Monday, December 29. Hide Caption Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Caldwell ascends what is known as pitch 10 on Tuesday, December 28. Hide Caption Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Caldwell sets up camp on December 28. Hide Caption 16 of 18 Photos: Climbing El Capitan's Dawn Wall Before starting their climb, Jorgeson, left, and Caldwell prepare their gear on Saturday, December 27. Jorgeson didn't know Caldwell until he decided to join him on the climb.

Hide Caption 2 men attempt El Capitan, most difficult rock climb in world, at Yosemite | Fox News 2 men attempt El Capitan, most difficult rock climb in world, at Yosemite Published January 06, 2015 Facebook 0 Twitter 0 livefyre Email Print FILE: Two men, Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell, are roughly halfway through climbing El Capitan: a free climb of a half-mile section of exposed granite in California's Yosemite National Park. SAN FRANCISCO – Two men are roughly halfway through what has been called the hardest rock climb in the world: a free climb of a half-mile section of exposed granite in California's Yosemite National Park. Tom Evans, a climber and photographer, has been chronicling Kevin Jorgeson, 30, of Santa Rosa, California, and Tommy Caldwell, 36, of Estes Park, Colorado, as they scale their way using only their hands and feet. El Capitan, the largest monolith of granite in the world, rises more than 3,000 feet above the Yosemite Valley floor. The first climber reached its summit in 1958, and there are roughly 100 routes up to the top.

Of those, the hardest and steepest is called the Dawn Wall, which faces east toward the rising sun. Made it through another hurdle last night. Managed to climb the loop pitch around the Dyno. It was a full in... — Tommy Caldwell (@tommycaldwell1) January 5, 2015 Many have climbed Dawn Wall, which has been described "as smooth as alabaster, as steep as the bedroom wall," but the pair would be the first to free climb it using ropes only as a safeguard against falls. The men eat, stretch and sleep in hanging tents suspended to the Dawn Wall. They don't have the creature comforts of home, but they have kept in touch with the outside world thanks to social media -- tweeting, posting on Facebook, feeding information for blogs and keeping in touch with a bevy of supporters on the ground. — Kevin Jorgeson (@kjorgeson) January 3, 2015 "The guys are doing great," said Josh Lowell with Big Up Productions, which has been chronicling their climbs for the last six years.

"(Monday) they are resting and trying to grow skin back on their fingertips so they can continue to do battle with the hardest climbing sections, which involve grabbing tiny, razor-sharp edges of rock." If all goes as planned, the duo could be at the top as soon as Friday or Saturday, Lowell said. "But that's best-case scenario. It could take several more days just to get through the difficult section where they currently are. If any weather moves in, that could also delay things, but the forecast is looking good for now," he said. Evans said the two have a cellphone on their ascent, but they weren't taking calls Monday because they were resting and "want no distractions while on the cliff." The two also weren't answering emails from roughly 1,500 feet above the ground. There are 32 sections of the climb. On Sunday night, Lowell said Caldwell, climbing in the dark, completed the last of the three hardest sections of climbing, which was a major breakthrough. "He still has 1,500 feet of hard, scary climbing ahead, but mentally he is feeling really confident right now, and incredibly excited. (Jorgeson) is extremely close to completing pitch 15, one of the hardest.

(Tuesday) he will try to complete it and catch up to Tommy so they can continue forging ahead," he said. My battle with the #DawnWall boils down to this right hand razor blade. It's so small, tape prevents a proper... Yosemite’s El Capitan Stonewalls but Doesn’t Stop Free Climbers | KTLA Yosemite’s El Capitan Stonewalls but Doesn’t Stop Free Climbers Posted 11:30 PM, January 11, 2015, by Los Angeles Times , Updated at 01:34AM, January 12, 2015 Share this: Email This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. Somewhere up on that impossibly vertical rock face, two men were inching toward accomplishing what had never been done before. Tommy Caldwell, left, and Kevin Jorgeson climb Pitch 15 on Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan rock formation Friday.

(Credit: Tom Evans/ elcapreport.com ) Tommy Caldwell, 36, and Kevin Jorgeson, 30, could become the first to “free climb” the Dawn Wall. They are propelling themselves up this 3,000-foot section of Yosemite’s El Capitan using only fingers and toes wedged into the granite’s tiniest cracks and indentations. They use ropes only to catch themselves when they fall — which they do often — and not to aid in their ascent. Of the 100 routes up El Capitan, only 13 have been free climbed, and the Dawn Wall is far harder than the others. In the rock-climbing world, the feat is monumental. But even to those who might not have followed the sport, the quest of two climbers about to finish what was thought impossible resonates. “You contrast it with the killings in Paris, with the darkness in the world,” said Tim Fulkerson, 51, of Portola Valley, Calif., watching Sunday in the meadow at the foot of El Capitan with his 13-year-old rock-climber son Ross.

“You look up and you see the possibility of doing something almost insurmountable with optimism, creativity, perseverance, friendship. You see two guys holding on with bleeding fingers.” Click here to read the full story on LATimes.com. Free-Climbers Reach Summit Of Yosemite's El Capitan : NPR Free-Climbers Reach Summit Of Yosemite's El Capitan Embed Embed Free-Climbers Reach Summit Of Yosemite's El Capitan Free-Climbers Reach Summit Of Yosemite's El Capitan Embed Embed Heard on Morning Edition Nathan Rott After 19 days of climbing up a 3,000-foot rock face, gripping at granite sometimes no thicker than a dime, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson reached the top of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. DAVID GREENE, HOST: OK. Many people have climbed the El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. It's the largest monolith of granite in the world. But not many have done it on the most challenging route known as the Dawn Wall. And until yesterday, no one had ever conquered the Dawn Wall using just their hands and feet. That's called a free climb.

And after 19 days on the sheer granite face with only a safety rope in case of falls, climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson reached the summit. NPR's Nathan Rott takes us to Yosemite. NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE: Looking straight up from its boulder-strewn base, El Capitan looks like it goes up forever. As Jorgeson and Caldwell made their final ascent, rock climber Elle Zhu watched from the base, leaning back, looking up and up. ELLE ZHU: I mean, it just keeps going up. ROTT: Which made her think what everyone was thinking. ZHU: I don't know. I can't even describe it. It's just, like, amazing that someone can climb all that. ROTT: Just straight up. ZHU: Yeah, just straight up it. ROTT: Caldwell and Jorgeson summited at about 3:30 p.m., greeted by a few dozen family and friends at the top. For perspective of their feat, it helps to talk to people that know rock climbing - people who have done it. MATT PIETRAS: It's insane. I don't know what else to say.

(LAUGHTER) ROTT: That's Matt Pietras, a guy that's been climbing for a dozen years. He says the climbing they did compares to climbing a window pane. There are just so few grips. Then there's the time - nearly three weeks. The falls - Jorgeson fell 11 times over a seven-day stretch. And the skin... BRIAN PUGH: After a couple days, your skin gets worn down. ROTT: This is Brian Pugh another climber. He's camping here with Esther Kemper. What do you think your fingers would look like after, like, three weeks of it? PUGH: After three weeks of... ESTHER KEMPER: Bloody stumps. PUGH: Yeah, bloody stumps. I mean, if I were doing what - the kind of climbing they're doing, my fingers would be pretty much gone. ROTT: Jorgeson and Caldwell had to take breaks to let their fingers heal. Caldwell even went as far as to wake himself up every four hours to put beeswax cream on his raw fingers. Watching from below, Mike Caldwell, Tommy's father, marveled at his son's achievement.

MIKE CALDWELL: He doesn't even know what he's done, (laughter) you know? ROTT: Caldwell finished first. He waited for Jorgeson to catch up so they could summit together. Nathan Rott, NPR News, Yosemite National Park. Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc. , an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Correction Jan. 15, 2015 In a previous audio version of this report, we said no one had ever free-climbed El Capitan. In fact, El Capitan has been free-climbed many times. But until this week, no one had free-climbed El Capitan's Dawn Wall on the way to the summit.

Question: El Capitan was free climbed is January 2015 - in which US National Park is it found?
Answer: YOSEMITE